(Re)Mix
by KitKatt0430
Summary: Cisco creates fan remixes as a hobby, submitting his reinterpretations of video game music to a remix website. One of Cisco's harshest critics - PiedPiperCC - also gives him his highest praise and as much as Cisco wants to meet him in person, it turns out that PiedPiperCC is the handle for Hartley Rathaway. Dante's (sort of) nemesis.


Summary: Cisco may not have gone into music like his brother, but he still creates fan remixes as a hobby, occasionally submitting his reinterpretations of video game music to a video game remix website. One of Cisco's harshest critics - PiedPiperCC - also gives him his highest praise and as much as Cisco wants to meet him in person, it turns out that PiedPiperCC is the handle for Hartley Rathaway, who just so happens to be Dante Ramon's nemesis in the Central City music scene. (Sort of.)

Notes: I started this idea back during Hartmon Fest but didn't have time to finish it. So now I'm pulling it out for Cisco Ramon Week since Hartmon is my favorite Cisco ship.

Cisco Ramon Week - Day 2 - Favorite Ship  
Hartmon Fest 2019 – Mar 15th – artsy

_**(Re)Mix**_

Cisco learns how to play the piano on his family's second hand upright. He's not as good at is Dante is, but Cisco enjoys it well enough. He loves the way the notes can be combined and recombined to make limitless songs and that changing the way the notes are played can turn a love song into a tragedy or make a sad song into something cheerful.

After he's done practicing the songs his mamá assigned him to learn, Cisco would sit there with composition paper and try to figure out the melodies of his favorite video game music. _Zelda's Lullaby, Rainbow Road_, the world themes from _Banjo Kazooie_... Cisco filled several notebooks with his attempts to recreate his favorite songs and daring - at least, he thought they were daring - re-imaginings of the music, twisting the beats and melodies around into something new.

And then, Christmas Eve of his sophomore year of high school, Cisco discovered the website Critical Hit Remix. He stayed up well past midnight, listening to songs that just completely blew his mind. They put his little piano compositions to utter shame; they were so beautiful. And they covered so many different styles... and Cisco kept downloading song after song, intent on loading them onto his mp3 player before he headed back to school after New Years.

By the time Cisco was starting his freshman year of college, he knew he wanted to start remixing music as a hobby. He was on track for a mechanical engineering degree, but he needed something as a to relax him after a hard day of classes, so... why not recording and sharing his own fan remixes. There were a few ideas in his notebooks that he wanted to refine, but... he had no idea where to start. Thankfully, there were a ridiculous number of tutorials to choose from in the Critical Hit Remix forums.

There were recommendations for digital audio workstation (DAW) programs, tutorials, places to find sounds - some of which were free, others were not - and pretty much everything else a beginner like him could possibly want to know.

Unfortunately even the cheapest DAWs were easily a hundred dollars. And then there was the price of a decent pair of headphones for music production, which meant he needed something with a lot better output than his cheap ten-dollar ear buds. And probably an electronic keyboard, eventually. Which, all of that? He could not stop thinking of them all in terms of how many school books he could buy with the money they cost.

Thank goodness for his part time job, because there was no way he could justify this sort of spending to his parents for a hobby. But using his own money? Completely fine.

So Cisco started saving up, buying what he needed one at a time. Headphones first so he could break them in listening to music while he studied. The upgrades for his desktop next, which made him so very paranoid about his PC being stolen from his dorm while he was using his cheap laptop in class. Next was the DAW. He went with FL Studio since it had good reviews, came well recommended by the Critical Hit Remix forums, and there were a ridiculous number of tutorials out there for it. Including some free ones on YouTube by a guy who had posted several remixes on Critical Hit Remix: PiedPiperCC. His music was gorgeous and polished and often hit Cisco right in the feels.

Thus he was kind of... upset and offended when the first time he sent in a remix to the site for consideration for posting, PiedPiperCC didn't just critique Cisco's entry as part of the panel of judges, he tore it apart. The others offered some critique, gave him some direction on how to polish it up, and honestly Cisco wasn't surprised that they'd rejected it. In fact, he'd submitted expecting to be rejected because he was hoping for some constructive criticism.

But his favorite remix artist just about shredded his work, specifically the part that Cisco considered to be the heart of the song. Called it unnecessary and directionless and fluff the piece would be better off without. Just another _Zelda's Lullaby_ remix that was, to be perfectly frank, not all that memorable.

Well, Cisco wasn't letting that stand. So he tweaked and reworked and tightened up and... and if he were being perfectly honest, he took a lot of PiedPiperCC's criticism to heart when retooling the composition. But that supposedly unnecessary, directionless part? He made it feel more integrated and practically pointed a spot light on it. And then he resubmitted and spent the following week just... quietly freaking out. Because... no response. He'd heard back from the judges panel in a matter of days the first time, but now?

It starts creeping up on two weeks when he gets a response. They're running behind schedule, but Cisco's tune hasn't been forgotten. They just... haven't gotten to it yet.

This does not help Cisco's nerves in the least.

He starts a new project to take his anxiety out on, taking The _Legend of Zelda's Song of Storms_ and turning it into a frenetic techno mix that he's not sure if he actually wants to make submission worthy. Not if its this anxiety inducing all the time.

But, eventually, he hears back from the judges again. His song has been accepted - unanimously. Which meant that even PiedPiperCC signed off on it. That makes Cisco a lot more giddy than he wants to admit. Then he checks out his song's page on the website and spends a few minutes freaking out because... his fanwork is right there for anyone to listen to or download or comment on...

Cisco remembers the comment section exists and scrolls down, expecting not to see anything there yet. Except... there is.

_I'd have liked to be the first to welcome newcomer IveGotAGoodVibeAboutThis to Critical Hit Remix but one of the other judges got that honor by emailing him, so I have to make do with commenting first instead. When this first came to the judges panel, I could've told you he was a newbie just by thef quality of the submission. It was pretty good for a first time submission, but overall mediocre compared to what we usually green light for the sight. And there was one part of the song that I was dead certain needed to be stripped out entirely if the song was going to improve any._

_I've never been so glad to eat my words, though, because that section is still there. And it's gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous._

_What IveGotAGoodVibeAboutThis resubmitted is absolutely beautiful and shows that he knows when to take criticism to heart and when to ignore it entirely. If IveGotAGoodVibeAboutThis continues to submit music here, I have no doubt he's going to be one of my favorites to watch for because if he's already improved this much over the course of one song? He's only going to get better from here._

_PiedPiperCC_

He had to read it a few times and then go lay down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, and just... process.

PiedPiperCC liked his song, thought he was a remixer to watch for more good music to come, and he... just... those compliments...

Cisco flipped over and shrieked into his pillow to muffle the noise because holy crap this was amazing.

* * *

Cisco submits his frantic Song of Storms remix. PiedPiperCC rips it apart. He doesn't take it so hard this time, but still lets it drive him to get better.

When his second song shows up on the website, there's another glowing comment from PiedPiperCC.

Cisco's roommate comes back to find Cisco practically bouncing with joy in front of his computer and assumes Cisco's got an online crush, which... he's not exactly wrong.

* * *

It's not too long after Cisco's fourth remix goes up on the website that he finds out PiedPiperCC is stepping down from the judges panel. Something to do with the guy's home life causing massive upheaval. Cisco ends up seeking out PiedPiperCC's blog to find out more because he's very concerned (and a bit bummed) and wants to reassure himself that PiedPiperCC is okay. Or at least going to be okay.

There's a bare bones post about what's going on. His parents disowned him for being gay and he's worried about finishing his degree - physics with a minor in business - and money's getting tight. He's having to cut back on a lot of things in order to make time for what he's hoping will only be one part time job, not two, so he can work around completing his last semester and a half of college. He set up a , intending to do videos of his process for creating some original works with the intent to release an album through bandcamp when he's done.

Cisco can't commit much, but he signs up for one of the lowest monthly tiers and impulsively sends PiedPiperCC an email wishing him well. He also offers to be a sounding board if the guy needs someone to vent to.

He gets back a slightly rambling response that tells Cisco how badly PiedPiperCC needs a friend through all this. PiedPiperCC doesn't specifically say anything to that effect, but Cisco can read between the lines and he seems absolutely relieved to get a message from someone who cares.

PiedPiperCC is terrified about what his disownment means for his younger sister, who is autistic and now has no buffer between herself and their massively ableist parents. He's also more freaked out about his monetary situation than he admitted on the blog; he's applying for a student loan and since he only needs about a semester's worth of money it's not that bad, but... he's having to navigate the whole application process alone with his social anxiety kicked up to eleven. Cisco finds himself very concerned over PiedPiperCC's state of mind. He writes back, trying to be sympathetic without coming off as pitying. He talks some about the degree he's working on - mechanical engineering, so there's a heavy dose of physics in there for him to learn - and the remixes he's working on, one of which is getting to the point that he's considering sending it to the judges panel.

_Oh no. You're sending that to me and I'm critiquing it first. I love your work and I'm gonna be devastated if anyone hears it before I do._

Cisco might've shrieked with delight into his pillow again.

* * *

They keep trading emails after that. Cisco gets to learn a lot of interesting things about PiedPiperCC.

Like, he has hearing problems, something he doesn't usually tell people because then they start asking questions like 'how can you make music' and he just... cannot abide that kind of idiocy. He's not willing to be someone else's inspiration porn. That make's Cisco grin and he imagines he can hear the sharp sarcasm in the other man's written words coming off the screen.

But also things like... PiedPiperCC's a big fan of the Tales game series, which Cisco had never played before. But he runs out and finds a cheap second hand copy of Tales of Symphonia on PiedPiperCC's recommendation and loses a couple of weekends to it. They trade anime recommendations. PiedPiperCC convinces Cisco to try out Princess Tutu which is surprisingly intense for an anime about a duck that turns into a seemingly normal ballet student who, in turn, can transform into a magical ballet princess: the titular Princess Tutu. Cisco gets PiedPiperCC to watch Angel Beats and he knows when PiedPiperCC reaches the episode where the main character remembers how he died because Cisco receives an email that's mostly swearing and 'I'm crying now, how dare you' followed by a second email that is basically 'sorry, I'm emotional right now and its your fault.'

Cisco regrets nothing.

_Don't take this as a challenge because if **Angel Beats** got to you, then you shouldn't watch this one. But at least I didn't tell you to watch **Puella Magi Madoka Magica**. Seriously, though, don't watch it._

PiedPiperCC watches Puella Magi Madoka Magica which, really, Cisco should've expected. There's a lot more swearing in the emails for that one.

But they're not just emailing anymore. They're chatting on different discord servers for fandoms they have in common or just constantly instant messaging each other. Cisco's crush goes from an abstract thing on PiedPiperCC as a composer and musician and turns into a crush on PiedPiperCC's personality. The dude is just... adorkable to no end.

Occasionally they even collaborate on a remix together. Which is awesome beyond words, really. (The first time PiedPiperCC suggested it there might've been a great deal of flailing on Cisco's part.)

Yet, despite everything Cisco learns about PiedPiperCC, they don't exchange their real names or try to meet up in RL or anything like that. Not that Cisco wouldn't like to do all of that, but he's just so worried about changing the dynamic of their friendship into something that doesn't work when there isn't a screen between them. So he just... lets the status quo remain for now.

* * *

The first time Cisco hears about 'that damn Hartley Rathaway' or 'ese idiota, Hartley Rathaway' is in high school. Dante is whining and complaining over losing one of his piano competitions to some guy from a private Catholic school: Hartley Rathaway.

It's not the last time Dante loses out to Rathaway either. Dante gets snippier every time it happens and Cisco learns that the name 'Hartley Rathaway' is a good way to instantly derail a conversation with Dante. Which means every time Cisco wants to not discuss something, he pulls out Rathaway's name. Hartley Rathaway becomes Cisco's talisman against discussing his senior year high school crush - on a boy, whom Cisco takes to prom - or every time he tries to insult Cisco's increasingly long hair or his sartorial choices or... well, everything.

It only gets worse in college because Rathaway - now upgraded to Hartley fucking Rathaway, Dante's irritation with this guy is reaching near legendary levels - isn't even a music major. He's a science major - an egghead like Cisco - and he still kicks Dante's ass whenever they're in a music competition together. Not often anymore, but just often enough that it really yanks Dante's chain.

The only thing that'd make it funnier is if it turned out Rathaway had no clue who Dante even was.

After graduation, Cisco almost becomes Rathaway's coworker at STAR Labs, but the offer given to him by Mercury Labs is just that little bit better and so they don't meet after all.

Everything is coasting along just wonderfully in Cisco's life and then... PiedPiperCC de-anonymizes himself online.

PiedPiperCC is Hartley Rathaway.

* * *

It goes something like this.

After releasing his first album on bandcamp, PiedPiperCC decides to do a kickstarter for his next one. And so... he makes a kickstarter video. Obviously.

Hey everyone, I'm Hartley Rathaway, though some of you may know me by the name PiedPiperCC.

Hartley is so handsome. Cisco's crush goes up a notch.

This... this would be the time to de-anonymize too. At least for Hartley. But Cisco... doesn't.

He's afraid. Afraid of how Dante would react. And what if Hartley knows about Dante after all and it really is a genuinely two-way antagonistic thing? What if that changed how Hartley thought about Cisco? But, mostly, he's afraid Hartley won't like Cisco in person.

So he doesn't offer his name and Hartley doesn't ask and things just stay the way they were.

Cisco gets Hartley's album through the kickstarter campaign and tries not to feel horribly guilty about not telling Hartley who he is.

It... doesn't really work.

* * *

I just got the most amazing news and I can't talk about it. Holy crap, Vibe, I wanna talk to you about this so much, you're gonna freak when I can finally tell you.

Cisco laughed. Hartley'd started calling him Vibe after they started emailing. Cisco would call him Piper.

It was pretty comfortable.

Okay, so it wasn't. Cisco still had his massive crush and he still wanted to meet Hartley but... by now it'd be weird, right?

Probably not. He was probably overthinking things way too much. Impulsively, Cisco types _do you want to meet? In RL?_

There's no response and Cisco immediately freaks. _It's just, we're both in Central City... but, it's cool if you don't._

At the same moment, Cisco hits enter, Hartley finally responds._ Yes, yes, yes. That would be really awesome._

_So I've been wanting to ask for a while, but I was afraid of making it weird and what if we... you're in Central City? Oh, that is soooo convenient. Do you know Jitters? The original CC Jitters?_

_Yeah_, Cisco interjects. _I know where Jitters is. Best coffee in town. And conveniently near Mercury Labs._

_Are you free tomorrow? No, more important, what is your name?_

Cisco hesitates a moment. But only a moment. _Cisco Ramon. And, yeah, I'm free tomorrow._

* * *

"Hi," Cisco greets Hartley in person - in person! - the next day at lunch. "I'm Cisco."

Hartley grins, his whole face lighting up. "Can I hug you? Is that weird?"

Cisco laughs and hugs him.

* * *

After that they're just constantly hanging out in real life. Hartley has no idea who Dante is - though he vaguely recollects him once Cisco shows Hartley a picture and explains their connection (and Dante's weird rivalry obsession) – and Cisco can't even begin to explain how hilarious he finds that to be.

Unfortunately, Hartley's got a boyfriend. Being Hartley's friend isn't a second best option, but… Cisco's pretty sure he's falling in love with the guy. Makes hearing about his boyfriend kind of awkward especially because Cisco is of the opinion that Chip is a controlling jerk.

Chip isn't all that impressed with Cisco either, but they try to be civil for Hartley's sake.

* * *

There's a knocking at Cisco's door.

"Hey," Hartley greets, looking sheepish when Cisco opens the door. "Sorry to show up unannounced, but I..." he flushes and looks down and fiddles with his sleeves, all sure signs that Hartley's being anxious. "I've been having an awful week and I was hoping you'd maybe want to watch a movie with me? I should've called ahead, but..."

"It's fine," Cisco waves him into the apartment. "Any movie in particular or just whatever I grab off the shelf at random?"

"I didn't really plan enough for actually picking a movie," Hartley admitted, still nervous. "I just... needed to get away and thought of you."

"Random movie roulette it is," Cisco declared. He reached out to offer Hartley a hug and found himself with an armful of physicist clinging tightly to him. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Can... can it wait? I just... I really need..."

"Yeah," Cisco rubbed his back lightly. "Whatever you need, Hart."

They end up watching _Star Trek: Generations_ with a bowl of popcorn on the table for them to share. They snicker over everyone being smart-asses to Kirk in the prologue.

("Oh, you feel old, Keptin?" Cisco said, mimicking Chekhov's accent, "let me make you feel older. Here is Sulu's daughter, helmsman of the Enterprise.")

("Brought a tear to me eye," they both chorus along with Scotty, giggling when Kirk tells him to shut up.)

When the plot switched to The Next Generation crew, their snark only increased.

("Worf is totally thinking that he wouldn't have to put up with this shit if he were being promoted on a Klingon vessel."

"If he were on a Klingon vessel he'd have gotten his promotion by killing Riker."

"I'm pretty sure that option is still on the table.")

About halfway through, though, Hartley paused the movie.

"So that super commission I can't talk about? I've... I've been stuck all week writing the music for it. And then today Chip and I had a fight. About... a lot of things. I think... I think we're going to break up."

"Maybe you should take some time off from STAR Labs?" Cisco isn't sure what to say about Chip. Mostly because Chip didn't like Cisco and Cisco thought Chip was a possessive asshole.

"Yeah... I'm gonna take next week off, actually." Hartley sighed and leaned back on the couch. "I don't know why I thought I could do this commission. I mean, the kickstarters were on self-imposed deadlines but I gave myself plenty of leeway on those. This is... a lot tighter and what if I screw it up?"

"Okay, so you can't tell me what its for, but is there something that I can do to help you get unstuck? You usually reach out more for thoughts and ideas, so maybe not having input is whats stymieing your process now?"

Hartley hummed softly, then nodded. "Yeah, you've got a point. I don't know if they'd be okay with me sharing what I've got so far, but... it's worth discussing and pushing for. And if its just one person, it should be fine..."

"Well there's one problem halfway to solved," Cisco teased. Then he said, "I don't know what to tell you about Chip."

"He implied that he thinks I'm cheating on him," Hartley said quietly.

"What?" Cisco said, voice sharp and offended because Hartley would never.

"He didn't outright say it, but he implied it pretty heavily. And, to be honest, I haven't been happy with him lately. He used to be so…" Hartley sighed in frustration. "I've dated a controlling boyfriend before and I swore I'd never date another abusive jerk. And Chip isn't being abusive yet, it feels like that's where things are headed. This fight felt like he was trying to passive aggressively push me into spending less time with my friends and... I felt like he was gaslighting me." Hartley was twisting his hands together nervously, so Cisco reached over to put a hand over his.

"If you dump him, you know Ronnie, Caitlin, Barry, Iris, and I all have your back, right?"

Hartley breathed out a sigh of relief. "I know."

They watch the rest of the movie, a little less snarky and a little more contemplative. (They still mock Riker for wrecking the Enterprise, though. And sing along with Data's life forms song.)

* * *

Hartley dumps Chip a few days later. Cisco consoles Hartley with more movies and ice cream.

It's too soon to say anything about his own feelings, but the way Hartley leans against Cisco during the movie gives him hope his feelings won't be rejected when he does finally tell the other man.

* * *

While Hartley's social awareness of Dante was pretty limited, Dante eventually manages to establish himself as more than just Cisco's weirdo older brother with a vengeance.

Hartley's commission - which Cisco did get to help him get past his mental block after all - turned out to be the music for an indie video game. One Cisco had been incredibly excited about even before he knew Hartley did all the music for it.

Suddenly Hartley was being interviewed by blogs and gamer magazines and despite still hating the idea of being someone else's 'inspiration porn', Hartley took the chance to talk about how his disability impacted his work. But also...

_What people don't think about is that I actually have two disabilities. I'm extremely nearsighted so I wear glasses all the time. But vision problems requiring glasses are so normalized that most people don't even think about that being a disability anymore. My glasses are considered necessary for me to function every day. And I feel the same way about my hearing aids. We live in a society that does not promote the learning of ASL, so I have to use my hearing aids every day in order to interact with other people with any sort of ease. But most insurance companies only consider my glasses a necessity. Hearing aids are often considered a luxury item and that's assuming they're covered at all._

Cisco was proud of Hartley. But then Dante opened his mouth... figuratively speaking.

On Dante's blog he critiqued Hartley's work and then made some offhand comment about being surprised a deaf guy could write such nuance into his music.

He doesn't know if Hartley will be upset with him for this, but Cisco rips his brother a new one in the comments section of the blog. Dante calls and leaves Cisco a blistering voicemail for embarrassing him online. Cisco leaves Dante a text saying Dante didn't need help embarrassing himself when he was spouting ableist bullshit about one of Cisco's friends. There was another vicious voicemail about how dare Cisco call Hartley Fucking Rathaway his friend.

Cisco winds up blocking his own brother on all his social media accounts and on his phone. (He also sends a link to the blog post to their mother. Her disappointment in Dante's behavior keeps the elder Ramon in a perpetual state of shame until its nearly Christmas time. Cisco regrets nothing.)

* * *

Hartley kissed Cisco on his cheek. "Thank you."

Cisco blushed hotly. "Um… what was that for?"

"It couldn't have been easy, confronting your own brother like that. I'm… I'm still not used to people standing up for me. I really appreciate it." Hartley looks nervous and blushes. "Sorry, was the, uh, was the kiss too much?"

"No, that… that was really nice." Cisco pauses a moment, then says, "do you want to maybe get dinner with me tomorrow night?"

At the same time, Hartley asks, "there's this play at the Popcorn House Theater and I thought maybe you'd like to..."

They both stop and stare and then Cisco giggles a little. "Are we both trying to ask each other out on a date at the same time?"

Hartley nods, mock solemnly. "Yes, we are. So… Popcorn House Theater? They're putting on _The Legend of the Fellowship_, which looks to be a parody of _Lord of the Rings_ and _The Legend of Zelda_."

"That sounds awesome and I'd love to. Do you think they'll have music mash-ups from the two? Because I'm thinking _Frodo's Lullaby_ would make an excellent remix..."

* * *

Notes:

The way insurance companies handle hearing aids is pretty atrocious really, especially when compared to how visual aids (glasses, contacts, etc) are handled. It's easier for me to get insurance to help cover the cost of a pair of regular glasses and a pair of sunglasses than it is for someone with hearing problems to get their first set of hearing aids. Anyway, I figured that if given publicity for his music, Hartley would definitely turn that into a platform to attack prejudices from. Starting here with ableism, though his parents aren't gonna be happy when they realize he's also been talking in these interviews about being disowned and how homophobia affected his life and all those nice people online who rallied to help him out in his time of need.

The website in this story is loosely based off of OverClocked ReMix; the music hosted there is absolutely amazing. Seriously, go lose yourself in some beautiful music.

The Popcorn House Theater is so called because you can throw popcorn at the actors during the performance. Audience interaction is encouraged. Just beware getting popcorn retaliation during the climactic fight scene at the end. (Also inspired by a real place.)


End file.
